The present invention relates generally to closure caps for bottle containers having a threaded neck portion onto which the cap is intended to fit. More specifically, the invention is directed to a safety type closure cap, commonly referred to as a child resistant cap, in order to render difficult opening of the container by children or infants so as to prevent access to the container, which may contain harmful ingredients if ingested by the child.
The prior art contains many suggestions for safety closure caps. Such devices usually require a special manipulative procedure sufficient to render removal of the cap difficult for most children. The special manipulative procedures usually involve two separate actions to remove the cap. For example, a rotating movement of the cap simultaneously with downward pressure is one such type of special manipulative procedure. Similarly, the prior art has provided structure which requires squeezing the sides of the cap while simultaneously twisting in order to be able to remove the cap.
Most standard bottle containers are usually provided with a single spiral thread at the neck portion to accomodate a twist-on cap. In order to provide a safety or locking closure feature, it has heretofore been necessary to modify the standard neck portion of such bottle containers by adding lug structure, camming arrangements, or other modifications to accomodate a specially designed interlocking cap with elements which will engage such lug members, or camming arrangements. The special manipulative procedures would be required to overcome the locking arrangement. Such safety closure arrangements, therefore, require use of a specially designed cap with a compatible neck portion. Accordingly, the prior devices have required not only a special design for the cap itself, but a compatible design for the neck portion of the container. Use of a specially designed cap on a standard bottle type closure having the traditional spiral thread would not be capable of achieving the safety feature. Only when the cap is used in conjunction with an appropriately designed and structured neck portion could the safety feature be implemented. A universally adaptable closure cap for use on a standard container having the standard neck portion, and interchangeable with other standard containers, has thus far not been achieved.
Examples of the prior art in which a specially designed cap is used in conjunction with a compatible neck portion are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,888,376; 3,941,261; and 4,117,945. Reference to other prior devices similarly requiring compatibly designed caps and closure necks are contained in the foregoing U.S. Patents.
The safety closure cap of the present invention is of the type which permits continued rotatable movement of the cap while preventing removal of the cap unless and until two separate and simultaneously applied movements are applied, and without involving locking the cap onto the container neck.
It will be appreciated from the foregoing referenced prior art that the safety closure feature can only be accomplished by a modification of the standard neck arrangement so as to be compatible with a specially designed cap. In one arrangement of the prior art, cooperating shoulder portions having camming surfaces must be provided on the cap and the neck portion of the container for an appropriate interlocking arrangement. Similarly, the other prior art also requires cooperating camming or lug arrangements on both the cap and the neck portion of the container in order to provide the interlocking arrangement which requires the two separate and simultaneously applied movements in order to release the cap.
While prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,978 discloses a cap structure for possible use on a standard neck portion of a container provided with the typical single spiral thread, this structure is not of the safety or child resistant type which would require two separate manipulative movements to remove the cap. Rather, this type of prior art involves the use of an interlocking thread on only one of the members (cap or neck) which would engage the standard thread on the other member. However, this arrangement merely provides for a locking feature which can be overcome by sufficient force applied in a rotating direction.
It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide a safety closure cap which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, and which can be universally used on standard bottle containers.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a safety type closure cap, commonly referred to as a child resistance cap, requiring both an axial and simultaneously rotatable movement of the cap in order to remove the cap from the container. The present invention also requires an oppositely directed axial movement and simultaneously applied oppositely directed rotatable movement to place the cap in a safety closure condition on the neck of the container.
Yet a further specific object of the present invention is to provide a simple design for a safety closure cap which can be used interchangeably on most standard bottle necks without requiring modification to the standard neck, or special cooperating lugs or cam elements on the standard bottle neck.